Ryan Hanger took the witness stand Tuesday and testified against Jackson Surber -- the 30-year-old Hoopa man who stands accused of murdering Hanger's father during a botched burglary attempt last year.

Surber has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, burglary and auto theft and faces life in prison if convicted on all charges. Two of his alleged accomplices -- Bruce Jason Stallings-Hunsucker and Samantha Kristen Machado -- are awaiting trial. A third, Sonia Hunsucker, has pleaded guilty to a charge of second degree murder and could be sentenced to 15 years to life in prison at a hearing later this month.

During about three hours of testimony on Tuesday, Ryan Hanger described bursts of gunfire, crawling for safety as bullets struck the ground around him, and later finding his father's body as he answered questions about the May night in 2011 when his father -- Darrell Hanger -- was shot and killed in front of Ryan Hanger's Willow Creek home.

Under cross examination from Surber's attorney Mark Hapgood, Ryan Hanger was also pressed about some inconsistencies in his testimony. Ryan Hanger conceded that he and his father were in no physical danger when they decided to confront Surber and three other people attempting to leave their property shortly after midnight on May 5, 2011.

"At that time, there was no physical threat to you or your father?" Hapgood asked.

"It was just people were at my house who shouldn't be at my house," Ryan Hanger said, explaining how he and his father were armed as they initiated a confrontation that turned fatal. "That's all we knew."

Ryan Hanger testified that he was at a job training in Weaverville and his wife was staying with her parents on May 4, 2011, when he received a call from a family member saying that his house on Sunset Lane in Willow Creek had been broken into. He said he returned home that afternoon to find his house ransacked and his two guns -- a shotgun and a rifle -- stolen, along with a video game console and an iPod.

The couple worked to clean up the house that day but Ryan Hanger testified his wife told him she didn't want to stay there that night, fearful the burglars might return. After having dinner with his parents -- who live just a few doors down -- Ryan Hanger said he decided he would return home for the night and his father volunteered to stay with him. He said the pair then walked back to his house.

"Guns," the witness testified, adding that he and his father brought three handguns with them.

"Why did you bring them?" Curtis asked.

"I've always had guns in my house and that night wasn't going to be any different," Ryan Hanger replied.

Curtis asked if he and his father thought the burglars would return that night.

"I didn't think they would come back but we were going to have something in case they did," Ryan Hanger answered.

Ryan Hanger testified that his father was asleep on the couch and he was sleeping in his room when he heard a car coming down Sunset Lane, a cul-de-sac, at about 1 a.m. He said he then saw headlights fill his bedroom, which has windows looking out onto the driveway to his home and into the carport on its side. He said he saw a pickup truck pull into the carport, then heard doors open and voices outside. He said he waited in bed for a second and then heard footsteps on his back porch, which connects to the carport and then to his home's back door.

At that point, Ryan Hanger testified, he grabbed a .44 revolver from next to his bed and went to wake up his father, telling him something along the lines of, "They're back."

"He jumped up and was just pacing in the living room," Ryan Hanger said of his father. "I was saying, 'What do we do? What do we do?' He grabbed the .357 and said, 'We're going to stop the truck,' and went out the front door."

Ryan Hanger said he followed his dad out the front door and, as soon as they stepped outside, they saw someone standing near the carport shining a flashlight in their eyes and heard a male voice yelling, "Hey, hey, hey."

Ryan Hanger said he watched as his father walked toward the Toyota Tacoma parked in the carport -- a vehicle later determined to be stolen -- and started yelling, "thieving bastards, get the f

out of the car, get the f out of the car." As Darrell Hanger, a veteran volunteer fireman, passed the back driver's side tire of the Tacoma, he fired a bullet through it, Ryan Hanger said, before proceeding to the passenger side of the vehicle.

Ryan Hanger testified that he followed his dad out of the house but stopped in the front yard, about 10 feet from the edge of the carport, where he stood with his gun at his side. He said he couldn't see what his father was doing in the carport, but heard yelling, with his dad saying "get on the ground," and a "frightened" woman's voice screaming repeatedly, "don't shoot, don't shoot."

The truck then started up, Ryan Hanger testified, and began revving its engine and lurching backwards. At this point, Ryan Hanger said his father came out of the carport and walked behind the truck to a point near where he was standing. Ryan Hanger said his father never approached the truck again. The Tacoma then lurched back out of the carport, Ryan Hanger said, and came to a stop in front of where he and his father were standing. Ryan Hanger testified that his father shot out the Tacoma's front driver's side tire at that point.

"Right about then is when all the bullets started coming from inside the truck out," Ryan Hanger said, adding that the burst of gunfire erupted almost immediately after the tire was shot out.

Ryan Hanger said he heard his father make a "grunting noise" and he turned from the truck.

"As soon as I seen the first (bullet) hit him, I turned and dove out of the way," Ryan Hanger said, adding that he crawled behind his Ford pickup truck parked in front of his house for cover. "There was bullets hitting all around me."

Ryan Hanger said he stayed hunkered down by the Ford's back tire for a moment before noticing his front door was still open. He said he then stood up and fired two shots from his .44 caliber pistol at the Tacoma, which was now stopped where his driveway met the cul-de-sac, before turning and running inside the house.

Once inside, Ryan Hanger said he locked the door and went into his bedroom to reload his gun before sitting down in the hallway. Shortly after entering the home, Ryan Hanger said he heard another gunshot from outside. Curtis asked if he tried to call the police.

"I tried," Ryan Hanger said, adding that he was just punching random strings of numbers into his phone. "My fingers weren't working right. Finally, my wife called me and I told her to do it. I couldn't get my fingers to work right."

Ryan Hanger -- who at some point realized he had been shot in the ankle -- estimated he was in his home for about 10 to 15 minutes before he saw a neighbor outside calling his name, at which point he went outside to meet him. Once outside, Ryan Hanger testified that he saw his father lying under his Ford truck, pulled him part way out and checked his pulse. He later said he picked up the .357 revolver his father had used in the shoot-out from the grass in his front yard and placed it by his father's body.

During opening arguments in the case, Hapgood conceded that Surber shot and killed Darrell Hanger that night, but argued the slaying was in self-defense. On Tuesday, Hapgood questioned Ryan Hanger on why he and his father stayed at the home that night and whether they thought the burglars might return.

Under questioning by Hapgood, Ryan Hanger maintained that they didn't think the burglars would return that night but had armed themselves just in case. He testified that he left his Ford pickup parked in front of his house -- where it had been when the home was burglarized.

"Was there any discussion between you and your father about making the place look unoccupied?" Hapgood asked.

"No," Ryan Hanger replied.

"But the lights were off?" Hapgood asked.

"Yes," Ryan Hanger replied.

"As if the house were empty?" Hapgood asked.

"I always sleep with the lights off," the witness answered.

Ryan Hanger also testified that he and his father went to sleep that night fully clothed, but he said that wasn't unusual for him when his wife wasn't home.

Hapgood also questioned Ryan Hanger about numerous points in which his testimony seemed to differ from the initial statements he made to police at the scene of the shooting and from his testimony during a preliminary hearing in the case.

Specifically, Hapgood asked Ryan Hanger if he remembered telling an officer at the scene that he'd called his mother and asked her to call 911 immediately after the shooting and pointed out that he'd offered varying reasons for bringing guns to his house -- saying at the preliminary hearing that he'd been concerned about animals coming into his home through a broken door.

Ryan Hanger testified Tuesday that he couldn't recall if his dad had wielded a flashlight during the confrontation, but told investigators he had and seemed to concede the point when pressed on it by Hapgood.

Hapgood also questioned Ryan Hanger about whether he told investigators that he'd seen two suspects at the scene, the man with the flashlight who got into the passenger's side of the Tacoma and another who jumped into the truck's driver's seat. Ryan Hanger testified that he only remembers seeing the man with the flashlight and said he quickly "lost sight" of him, and doesn't know where or how the suspect got into the Tacoma. He also testified that while the Tacoma was in the carport, he couldn't see the truck's driver's side from where he was standing.

Surber's trial is scheduled to continue today with Ryan Hanger retaking the stand.